This Steak & Shake Is A Pigsty

By cwaltersJuly 21, 2008

We’ve never been to a Steak & Shake, and Cal’s behind-the-scenes footage of one of their restaurants in Indiana makes us think we’ll be saying that for a long time. In his intro to the footage, he claims they were so understaffed that he was able to walk into the back of the restaurant and take photos, and then return later with a video camera. We wonder if he knew someone who worked there, but that’s not really the point. The point is the shake-making area looks like babies vomited all over it. We can only imagine the horror that begins at night when all the people are gone and the roaches have their nightly dairy & syrup feast.

@The Stork: 100% Agreed.
Maybe I should just start covering my eyes and not read anymore. Every week Consumerist ruins one of my most sacred things. First you took my Vitamin Water that made me feel healthy. Next it was Carl’s Jr./Hardees. Now you are coming for Steak n’ Shake. Oh the humanity!

I am curious as to what time those pics were taken. Our local S&S is pretty efficient from the hours of 11am-7pm. It’s okay from 7pm-11pm. After that, all hell breaks lose. My friends and I used to eat there 4-5 times a week after midnight and we were rarely charged for a full meal and regularly got our own drink refills from behind the counter. And we weren’t the only ones.

Also, a lot of that mess looks like shake splatter.

Any restaurant open 24 hours (which, I think most S&S’s are) is going to be dirtier because there’s no time to shut everything down and clean.

When I worked there 12 years ago my Steak ‘n Shake was nearly always spotless unless we were in the throes of a dinner rush. Even though it was open 24 hours, the majority of the cleaning happened in the dead hours of 2 – 5AM. I’m sure every restaurant is different though.

I still try to go every time I’m in an area that has one. Steakburgers are yummy.

We have one in Erie, PA and I don’t see what the hype is all about. The fries are too damn small, and I can get a better burger and shake at Eat ‘N Park or, hell, even Friday’s for less money. And at least at Friday’s the french fries would be larger than a toothpick.

I’ve eaten there a couple times, and it’s not much above any other greasehole fast food, except the one I’ve been to is usually slow. The last time I ate there I sat at the bar, and watched them work. The place wasn’t in bad shape, not was the staff unfriendly or unclean, but the whole operation just left me feeling turned off.

Maybe it was watching them take little 1/4 cup meat patties and smooshing and spreading them until they were about 4′ round and calling it a steak burger. Honestly, White Castle sliders may have more meat on them.

There are two Steak & Shakes near me. One is clean, bright, friendly, fast, and packed around the clock. The other (in a much more affluent neighborhood, to boot) never feels clean, they get my order wrong pretty much every time, and the only people there are soccer dads feeding the team after practice.

Steak and Shakes in MO are horrible. The service at each and every one (ok maybe not all) is bad, you may or may not get what you order and the food is overpriced. If you want great burgers and service find a Culvers.

From what I remember, Steak & Shake doesn’t close. (At least, the ones around me don’t close.) So they’re usually really understaffed at night. And there’s always somebody there to swat away the “nighttime roaches”… ;)

I couldn’t figure out where in Indiana this Steak ‘n Shake was. I seriously doubt it’s my local ones, because they are always clean and have good service.

@hillsrovey: You haven’t had the Indiana experience until you’ve been to a Steak n’ Shake completely drunk at 3 in the morning. It always seems weird to me that people who aren’t from the Midwest have almost never heard of Steak n’ Shake, and sometimes don’t even believe me that it’s a real restaurant!

Former Michigander here who just went to Steak ‘n’ Shake last night (Ann Arbor location) for the first time in years. The place was dirty as hell, there was nothing separating the Smoking and Non-Smoking sections, our food sat in the serving window for ten minutes while our waitress disappeared out the back, and we had to wait an additional fifteen minutes for our shakes for reasons unknown (our waitress’s explanation was “there’s a thing”). We also witnessed several heated arguments between the waitstaff and the kitchen workers. Very uncomfortable, wouldn’t recommend it again.

Steak and Shakes are great fast food restaurants, but for some reason it really seems to be hit or miss if they are clean or not. It seems like a lot more of a crapshoot than other restaurant chains. Perhaps Steak and Shake doesn’t have district managers who come in to see that the restaurant is up to standards?

I hadn’t heard of Steak ‘n Shake until I went to college in South Bend. My husband, not from Indiana, started to live for a trip to a SNS when he came to visit me. :D He nearly had an orgasm when he saw one in Austin a few months ago. SNS comes to Texas!

@Superawesomerad: I used to live in Ann Arbor. Some of the locals called it “Steak & Wait”. It always took forever to get my food there. I mean, I don’t expect fast food from a place like that, but it was a long wait even by short-order standards.

Yeah, so, that’s the one in my town. Only one in IN at 4850 anything. And that’s the one I usually go to. That’s pretty gross, but I suppose I haven’t been there in forever. But still, I’m kinda surprised that they don’t get a lot of citations (I think).

Anyone want to open a Steak and Shake franchise? It only takes a net worth of $1.5 Million and $500,000 in liquid assets. I’ve looked into other franchise opportunities and don’t know of anyone else who requires so much. I can’t afford the other franchises and I sure as heck couldn’t afford a S&S. If you want a franchise, you have to be interviewed by the corporate staff – seems kind of excessive for wanting to open a “greasy spoon….”

Steak n shake has the best burger I have ever tasted! Albeit a bit greasy. *shrug*

My only complaint with their burgers is that they are too greasy…. so much so that if you dont start eating it immediately (I bring mine home on the way from work)… the grease sometimes soaks the bun. And they put the pickle planks crossways like an X on the burger…. thats just insane!!!! ALso…. I truely HATE their toothpick-thin fries…. fries need to be meaty. I have to actually stop somewhere else to get fries.

The only thing they have that I like there are the burgers.

And I can agree that they are sometimes understaffed. I stopped by at about 5:30 am one morning & there was only one person visible inside the whole restaurant & the back door was open. ANd I sat at the drive thru for almost 10 minutes & noone ever took my order…. so I went to wendy’s instead (I hadnt been to wendy’s in a very long time & had a hankering for it.)

Frankly, unless that’s what the place looked like at store opening, I’m neither surprised nor disgusted. Restaurants can become filthy over the course of normal operating hours, especially during meal ‘rush’ times. Ideally, employees should be wiping down surfaces and machines throughout the day. But to me, the photos showed nothing out of the ordinary.

When we used to travel when there were no “scarf&barfs” in my area my better two thirds would demand that we travel hours out of our way to visit one. Fortunatly a local person got a franchise with the city giving them an exemption from a few of the local laws – with a review in a year. I have to admit, the extra 15 minutes travel time to get to the local one is well worth it. best fries of any fast food place, and not having to deal with my wife on vacations spending an extra two days diverting to get her to a Steak&Shake as she was used to in her childhood is a blessing.

I work in a restaurant with a similar shake/syrup set-up. Sometimes things can get messy when you’re in a rush and have pain in the ass stupid tourists asking a billion stupid questions while you’re trying to make three large shakes. It can get icky, but not this icky. I guess if they were understaffed they’d have no one to wipe up the mess if they were busy, but come on even in the deepest heat of ice cream making, my counter never looks that gross.

I can’t say for sure, but that looks incredibly similar to a Steak n Shake I worked at in Indiana. The managers are constantly pressured by corporate to cut hours to the point that they are routinely understaffed. Then there is a dinner rush and everyone is scrambling around working multiple stations. You’re never going to have time to clean when you’re doing twice the work you are supposed to and the restaurant is full. Also, if he did take those pictures shortly after a rush, they probably just haven’t gotten around to cleaning yet.

@synergy: That’s an interesting abbreviation for what I logically assume is “short”…

I worked the drive through of a SnS the summer before college but usually also had to pitch in on making desserts, assembling burgers, handling transactions at the front register, or any combination of the above. (Why not pay fewer wages and just have people double up (or triple or worse!)?) If I was behind on orders, cleaning up messes (as opposed to actual filth) would have to wait.

If you’re wondering if the guy knew a friend there… I dunno. But every SnS Ive ever seen takes about 5 million hours to get any food because they are understaffed. You hardly see your server. It doesn’t surprise me that the guy walked to the back and took pictures and video.

Terrible service, but somewhere to kill at least 3 hours in the middle of the night if you’re bored.